By Cyril Anderson

One fruitful connection between Islam and Christianity is the comparison between the Jesus as Messiah, and Imam Muhammad ibn Hassan as al-Mehdi.  There are many parallels between these two great figures.  First of all are parallels in the level of expectation by the people and authorities surrounding their births, and the secrecy in which the births took place.  In both cases, there was expectation of a great leader being born, a savior of sorts to lead people out of oppression.  In both cases, the birth had to be hid from the powers that be, which feared losing power.

 Comparisons can also be made between the military presences of the two lands in which they were born.  In Jesus’ case, in Judea, there was the presence of the Romans. (Multiple stories record Jesus’ mother having to take Jesus to Jerusalem for a Roman census; it was this time when Jesus first met with temple scholars and showed his spiritual greatness and wisdom at a young age.)  In Imam al-Mehdi’s case, there was the presence of the army of the caliph, who had moved his center of government to Samarrah, in Northern Iraq as a result of political instability and infighting amongst the Abbasides.  Imam al-Mahdi’s father, Imam Hassan al-Askari, who is buried at the al-Askari shine there, along with his father, Imam Ali al-Hadi, was kept there by force, because the caliph knew that Hassan was to have a son who would be the promised 12^th Imam.  (The nickname “al-Askari” refers, according to some accounts to the army of the caliph posted at Samarrah)  The caliph kept a close watch on Imam Hassan al-Askari and his wives, but the child was able to be born in secrecy.

 Similarly, for Jesus, at the time, it was expected that the Messiah would be born, and would be a savior, a king to lead the people loose from the Roman yoke.  As a result, Herod, the King over the Jews of Judea on behalf of the Romans, reportedly made a great effort to locate children born around that time to have them killed.  But Jesus’ mother was able to avoid the eye of attention and have the baby.

 Both of these figures were also reported to have performed wondrous deeds in childhood.  Jesus was able to bring clay birds to life, with the help of God.  (Qu’ran, Infancy Thomas Gospel)  Imam Mehdi, on the other hand is said to have led, at the age of five, his father’s funeral prayer, a task normally reserved for adults.

 A significant difference between these two figures is that at the time of Imam Mehdi’s birth, the pressure was on much more heavily, to the point that, unlike Jesus, Imam Mehdi was not able to operate during his adulthood openly.  Although it is believed that both Jesus and Imam Mehdi will return in the future to bring justice to the world, there is because of this more emphasis placed in Islam upon Mehdi’s second appearance in the future, when it is said that he will be able to manifest himself openly.

 There is a similarity in the state of the Jews at the time of Jesus and of the Muslims at the current time.  In the time of Jesus, prophethood to the Jews had been absent for some time (since Ezra, roughly).  For Muslims, prophethood has ceased since Muhammad, with Imamate afterwards to continue the light of guidance for those who followed.  But overall, the light is dim amongst much of the people, as it was in Jesus’ time.  For many people, religion had become a shell of empty ritual without any living core of connection to God.  The inner flame was dim or out amongst the people, as it is in a widespread sense today.  Many of the Jews in the time of Jesus, particularly the wealthy and educated, because of influence of surrounding cultures, had gone away from their religion.

 Jesus came to show the meaning and inner spirit of the law, of the ritual, without which it had no meaning, to make the law and ritual full and alive again.  He came to help the people to rebuild within their hearts the connection with God, to light the flame within the people’s hearts that had dimmed.

 Imam Mehdi promises to do the same thing.  Many amongst the Muslim community have come to this state, where it is just empty ritual, without real feeling inside.  It has become just a “tradition.”  Prophet Muhammad warned of a time when Islam would become like a shell, a name only.  Many people are in misguidance and confusion.  They are detached from the light of God, and are scrambling trying to find their way.  They have lost their connection with God, and so they feel empty and dark inside.  And not just amongst Muslim community, but Christians, Jews, all over.  People are losing faith in traditional belief in the face of the challenge of the modern world and the apparent hopelessness associated with it.  Imam Mehdi promises to renew religion by showing people all over the world how to reconnect to God and spirituality in the midst of the modern world.

There is a famous Islamic oral tradition from the collection al-Kafi which speaks o prophets and imams coming to their people with miracles that in the spirit of the popular science of his day, but a step ahead to show power of God.  In the case of Jesus, it was medicine, and Jesus showed his connection with God by bringing clay birds to life, and by raising Lazarus.  Similarly, Moses, outshone the magic of the magicians at the court of Pharoah in a time when magic was the “popular science” of the day.  Similarly, Muhammad brought, in the majestic poetry of the Qu’ran, a miracle in line with the popular science or art of his day.  The imams, according to a tradition in al-Kafi, bring similar miracles through the new popular science of the post-prophetic age, which is reason, because humanity has matured to the point where it is capable of being moved by reason.  Al-Mahdi would likely show himself as genuine using the popular form of knowledge and art of today: science.  Indeed, it is said that in his time, great scientific achievement would occur.